Building for the future

We have started 2014 with more horses than ever before and after facing the fact that there just wasn't enough room in the yard, we decided to build a couple more stables in between the 'bottom' yard and the barn. John ordered them on Friday night and by Monday morning they were up and running with horses filling them already.
It's great to have so many horses in the yard and our capacity is now up to 28 boxes.

Two new stables

The boost in numbers is due to an influx of horses, one of them being stable star Luhaif. He joined us in October and ran a blinder on his debut for us last month to finish second. He is a front runner and wears his heart on his sleeve so it is never going to be easy to win but, on ratings, he looks to have a great chance at Wolverhampton on Monday. His best all-weather form has been at Lingfield so the slower surface at Wolverhampton is an unknown but it is a valuable race so is worth having a shot. The aim for him is to qualify for the All-Weather Championship Finals day on Good Friday where he could run in the £150,000 mile final. He needs one more run to qualify and probably a little boost in the ratings but he is going the right way.

Luhaif (Ross)

Accompanying Luhaif to Dunstall Park will be another new arrival in Meddling. We bought her from Sir Michael Stoute very cheaply but she is looking worth every penny as her homework has been quite impressive. She has a rating of 65 and I think she is a bit better than that so hopefully she can put in a good run, even though it's her first try on the all-weather. She is quite a nervous filly so we will be taking the companion pony, Bonnie, with her to the races to keep her calm before the race.

The next day we go to Southwell with Previous Acclaim. She found 5f too sharp there on her only try but Shelley said she didn't mind the surface so we're trying again over a bit further. She is no world beater but will win a race one day and I just hope this is the day as she is fit and well.

Previous Acclaim (Shelley)

Rounding up the week will be Attain at Wolverhampton on Saturday night. As everyone knows, he has still yet to win a race despite multiple valiant attempts. He has been very unlucky to bump into some improving horses and his time to shine will come. I think the pace of an amateur race will suit him as he doesn't really have a turn of foot so the faster they go, the better and that tends to happen in these races.

The yearlings are now two-year olds and it won't be long before they can hit the track in April. Although most of them won't be early enough to run over five furlongs, they are all going well and get you dreaming of what could be in the season ahead.
Captain Navarre is a lovely big colt and he is taking all his work with ease. He has a great attitude and leads all the others up the heath.
Although Duke of Diamonds came to us a bit later than the others, he has quickly caught up and might be a bit sharper than his pedigree suggests. He is quite a nervous little man but does his exercise easily enough and it will be interesting to see what he's got when the youngsters start to up their workload in a month or so time.

Captain Navarre (Reno) & Duke Of Diamonds (Graham)

Celestine Abbey looks likely to be the earliest runner of the group as she seems to be very speedy and doesn't bat an eyelid at anything thrown at her. She isn't the biggest but early two-year olds aren't usually so I expect her to be heading to the races in the not too distant future.

Celestine Abbey (Shelley)

Mercy Me and Celestine have been together with us since they were foals and they are still very good friends even now. Mercy is a lot bigger though and probably will need a bit further distance to run over but she still moves powerfully up the canter. She has a few quirks but they seem to disappear in her faster paces so I hope it won't be a problem when she goes racing.

Mercy Me (Ross)

I was hoping Italia could be a possibility for the Brocklesby, the year's first two-year old race, but she had to have a month off due to lameness and that has set her back a bit. She is cantering again now and seems to have gotten over her problems. Even if she doesn't make that race, there are plenty of other chances for her to shine early in the season. I think her sire, Zebidee, will be a rich source of precocious juveniles and I'll be fascinated to see what his first crop can do on the track.

Italia (Emma)